30 THE TABLES TURNED. BY MRS. EDWARD THOMAS CHAPTER III. Such is the power of that sweet passion, SPENSER'S Hymn in Honour of Love. "Ir's very strange !" remarked Mr. Morris, as soon as his son was seated at his desk, "that I have heard nothing from Mrs. Bouverie. She might, at least, have condescended to acknowledge the receipt of my letter; if she did not choose to endeavour to enlist my sympathy, if she is too haughty to entreat for favour, I will be too proud to volunteer it, and that she shall shortly be made aware of. I wish I had taken your advice, Fred, and written in a more peremptory style at first. However, it is not too late to repair the error, and do so I will, for I am quite exasperated with her negligent unconcern." Here was an opportunity for Frederick to explain, but he suffered it to pass, studying rather how to defeat his father's plans, than, by confessing the truth, gaining him at once as a friend for the widow and her daughter. But Frederick, like all other persons new in deception, was overwhelmed with the idea, in this his first deviation from rectitude, that it was too late to recover his former bright integrity; and that, by confessing his lapse from it, he should only expose himself to the suspicion of greater falsehood than that of which he had been really guilty, and that nothing was now to be done but to persevere manfully in its maintenance; he therefore allowed his father to pen a long and severe letter, fold it, seal, and address it, and then order Dick, without fail, to see it into the hands of Mrs. Bouverie herself. "Mind! and be most exact in that respect, Dick!" "Yes, sir." "And, Dick," said Frederick, rising, and following him out of the office, as if to enforce his father's orders, "deliver it on your peril!" Dick placed his forefinger significantly to his nose with an expression of the most diabolical astuteness, and disappeared. "What does the fellow mean?" again the discontented Frederick was constrained to ask himself, as he slowly re-entered the office, feeling even more in the power of the despised young clerk than that of the more mature and discreet footman; and he could not but perceive that he had thus rendered himself dependent on their vulgar caprice, without one beneficial purpose being attained. "How much better to have placed confidence in his father! how much better to have informed him of the visit and application of Miss Bouverie! Why make a mystery of so simple an affair? Why, indeed! he could not answer himself-he could not understand himself-his mind was a chaos of tumultuous thoughts, which seemed to grow darker and darker, aching with their own confusion and entanglement. He hoped fortune would favour him in their unravelment; Providence" There he paused, "for would Providence come to the rescue of deceit? No. But Providence would come to the rescue of the innocent Agnes Bouverie-the rescue of her upright mother!" "If Mrs. Bouverie does not reply satisfactorily to this letter, Fred, I shall proceed at once to extremities; for then I shall have no scruples, as her indifference will prove her to be most thoroughly unprincipled." "Do not judge her too harshly, father; perhaps she is deserving of the utmost extent of your mercy." "Mercy!" exclaimed the old gentleman, looking up over his spectacles with the most profound astonishment; "mercy, Fred!—you recommend mercy? Why, I have just learnt from you to consider it only as a figure of speech." "Oh, my father! you must not be so indiscriminate in its abandonment -there may be most affecting occasions for you to make exceptions,you must use your unbiassed judgment; always remembering that mercy is indeed a divine prerogative; and happy is the man who can exercise it in behalf of the widow-this poor Mrs. Bouverie, for instance." "Fred! what do you mean by blowing hot and cold in this way? Did you not do all you possibly could to persuade me that she was an arrant swindler, and now that I have arrived at the agreeable conviction that such is the fact, you are doing your utmost to destroy the impression; but I will not be convinced to the contrary, I know her to be such." "Good Heavens! father, what makes you think so?-where did get your information from ?—who has prejudiced you against her?" "Yourself." you "Me! have I done her such unmerited injury?" “Anything but unmerited, I fancy. Look at her silent contempt of my first letter; but that I can understand, it being, as you justly asserted, far too lenient. Still, as a lady, she ought to have appreciated the forbearance which strove to spare her delicacy-not that I anticipate a less mortifying result from the one now sent, for, from Dick's delay, I have no doubt she means to carry the affair with a high hand. But she will find her match, for, when I am once fairly roused, I can be as obstinate and indignant as any one; and nothing makes a man more so than contumely and ingratitude." "But you have yet to prove that the lady in question is so, and until you do, I must say your threats are most unjustifiable." "Fred!" "I mean that you should endeavour to subdue that spirit of persecution." "Spirit of persecution! That advice to me? I who have lost thousands? But, never mind, let us change the subject," said the alarmed father, as a new and terrible idea flashed across his mind; "I must soothe him; he is not himself, I am positive. Good God! if I should have to take out a statute of lunacy against my only son! I have no conception where the latent insanity could have sprung from-my father and grandfather, nay, all the Morrises, have been celebrated as possessing 'mens sana in corpore sano' (a sound mind in a sound body) for generations. Alas! and I was so proud of his understanding. Well! poor fellow, it can be truly said that 'too much learning has made thee mad!'” Overcome by his own feelings, the old man gazed pathetically on his son, then rose and kissed his forehead, leaving a tear on it. "Father!" "Hush, my dear boy! nothing is the matter! you will soon be well again; a little quiet and change of scene-you have studied too hard,the brain is of a sadly delicate texture, and is easily overwrought-but I do not fear for you, for, thank Heaven, you are young, and with youth on your side." "Was there ever anything more unfortunate, more distressing?" thought Frederick; "it is but too evident that my dear father's own brain is unsettled, and, like all lunatics, he imagines every one mad but himself! He has applied himself too closely to business-and yet, he has never been a profound thinker; but there is no accounting for the effects of application on some minds! What an extraordinary circumstance if my first case ‘de lunatico inquirendo' should happen to be on my own father!" Dick now entering, each having an object to keep his communication from the other for fear of aggravating the symptoms, impressively uttered his name, and then placed their fingers on their lips to enjoin silence. Dick, although he thought it very queer in his old master to do so, fully entered into the pantomime, as far as Frederick was concerned, and, pointing slily to his father, placed his finger on his lip too. Mr. Morris resolving to inquire how he had sped with respect to the delivery of the letter the first private opportunity he had, and Frederick determined to let things take their chance, "for, in his father's present state, no opposition was, alas! to be dreaded from him!" CHAPTER IV. Who has not proved how feebly words essay BYRON'S Bride of Abydos. SOME days having elapsed since the supposed delivery of the second letter to Mrs. Bouverie, without eliciting any rejoinder from her, although Dick, when subject to the most rigid cross-examination, pertinaciously adhered to his first story, "that he did positively give it into the hands of the lady herself, and that she twirled it more than once between her thumb and finger, whilst pretending to read the address ;" and also, notwithstanding the very alarming, incipient symptoms of insanity exhibited by Frederick, they did by no means increase according to the established ratio in such cases; on the contrary, his whole manner and deportment had latterly undergone a most surprising and improving change, displaying a mildness and submission never witnessed in him before. He was complaisant to James, considerate for Dick, pleading in extenuation of his many palpable derelictions from duty and attention in the office; whilst to himself he was affectionate and deferential to a painful degree; so that Mr. Morris, whilst he admired the striking difference in his once haughty and arrogant son, was still puzzled to account for it; for never, except when the affair of the contumacious officer's relic came on the tapis, did Frederick oppose one opinion offered by his father; but then he became outrageously violent in his advocacy of her, strenuously and determinately vindicating her through all blame and censure; protesting that," as a man, he never would suffer her name to be associated with dishonour; for, that misfortune and crime ought to be held most distinct in the estimation of every really well-disposed mind;" so that the bewildered parent, "perplexed in the extreme," and never dreaming that he himself was an object of suspicion to his son, thought, at last, that there must be more in all this than met the eye,- "that, perhaps, his poor boy's very malady arose from some chivalrous infatuation respecting the claims an unprotected woman had on the opposite sex,-and that he himself had, alas! engendered that very folly in his brain, by dwelling so much on the effects which struggling virtue ought to produce in every manly bosom. The young imagination is soon excited; and many a violent prepossession has been conceived in secret, and nourished in secret, to the detriment of reason, merely through directing the attention to an interesting point of character or circumstances! Can they, by any chance, have met? if so, that will account for the lady's reserve and the gentleman's knight-errantry! Is it impossible to fathom the mystery? at all events, there is nothing like trying!" So, without breathing a syllable of his design, one fine morning he strolled toward No. 5, Groveterrace, to endeavour to obtain an interview with the Angerona (Goddess of Silence) who resided there, that he might regulate his conduct for the future according to the kind of impression she should make on him. On his arrival, he was rather alarmed at observing the knocker of the door muffled; and on learning from the servant-maid, who was cleaning the steps, "that it was for her mistress, who had long been dangerously ill," all his previous conjectures as to the cause of Frederick's madness vanished; and, with a pang of acute contrition, he thought, "Poor thing! I have misjudged her after all! Frederick is right, I have indulged in a spirit of persecution towards her!" Pray, did she get the two letters I sent by my clerk ?" "I do not know, sir; but Miss Agnes can tell you; will you please to walk into the parlour, and let me call her down to you?" "By all means, if she is at leisure. So there is a Miss in the case, then? Does Fred know that? Is that the cause of his romantic ardour, his flightiness of action? Nous-verrons !" In glancing round the room, everything indicated the presence of youth, taste, and elegance; the drawings, the flowers, the embroideryframe, and everything, also indicated the presence of sickness; for the sketches were unfinished, the flowers drooping, the needle carelessly thrown on the tapestry, and the cushions of the large easy chair compressed and disordered, as if they had, indeed, been propping a frame racked by restlessness and pain. The entrance of Agnes put a stop to his observations, but quickened his regret for those two detestable letters most considerably, lest they should have added to her mother's sufferings. "I am sorry," he began, bowing profoundly, "to find that Mrs. Bouverie is so unwell. I had no idea she was indisposed, or I should not have troubled her with those two letters so inopportunely." "Two, sir? only one was received; and, as I explained to Mr. Frederick-for I presume I am addressing Mr. Morris-" "Yes, madam. Then you have seen my son?" "Oh! dear, yes; and he promised that you should not proceed against my poor mother for the rent whilst she was ill." "And he shall redeem his promise! But, when did he make it?—— when did you see him?" "The first time" "Oh! then you have seen him more than once?" Daily, sir, have I enjoyed that happiness since we first met, which was on the morning after that terrible letter of yours; you were from home, sir, but your kind son undertook to satisfy your mind on the subject of my visit. I hope" "Oh! dear, no! nothing is the matter; I understand perfectly. And, so you see him daily?" "Yes, for a few moments he runs in to inquire after mamma. Indeed, had it not been for him she must have sunk under her illness; but he studies her every want. Oh, sir! what an admirable son you possess !" "I am fully sensible of the distinguished blessing, miss!" "So liberal!—so disinterested!-so perfectly indifferent about money! -will not hear a word concerning my mother's serious debt; and is quite angry when I tell him she frets at its being still unpaid. Ah, sir! we never can make him any return for his generosity." "I am not so sure of that, miss. And so, to the best of your recollection, you have only received one letter?" "Only one, sir.” "That's very singular. However, do not distress yourself, and, above all, do not distress your mother; the rent is a matter of no consideration to me; thank God, I have no need of driving the widow and the fatherless to extremity." "So Mr. Frederick said." "When, miss?" "Last evening, when he brought me those beautiful primroses." "Did he? Will you allow me to pluck one of them, Miss Agnes?" "Oh, sir! all if you please, and this rose, too; they both came from him he knows I am so fond of flowers." "He soon discovered your taste." "Not very; it was two or three days first." "The unreasonable little puss!" thought the half-captivated old gentleman. "Good morning; pray make my kindest compliments to your mamma. Oh! by-the-by, Miss Agnes, you never observed anything particular in my son?" "Good gracious, sir!" replied Agnes, blushing vermilion, "what an extraordinary question." "A monstrous lovely girl!-a monstrous lovely girl!" muttered Mr. Morris, as he again regarded Agnes Bouverie, as she smilingly curtsied to him from the top of the steps. "If Master Fred is mad, there is method in his madness, going to console such a forlorn and artless creature; but |